Modern Casino Security

February 3, 2018

I recall, some years ago, asking a cinema in a casino complex if they would charge my phone. They agreed. And, so, with very little else to occupy my time, I stood waiting, gazing up at the movie posters and trying to guess which ones were not a Michael Bay franchise reboot.

Gradually, after some minutes, I noticed a rather peculiar thing; all the cinema staff were eyeballing me. Given that I am an incredibly handsome balding man, I assumed this was simply due to them being magnetically attracted to me, and didn’t give it another thought. Only afterwards, when my phone was given back to me and I saw tell-tale signs that it had been taken apart, did I realise what had been happening.

Casino security is no joke. As I had stood there, casino security had quietly taken apart my phone to look for bombs, or any other illegal device, and put it back together. While they had been doing this, the staff had been watching me, looking for signs that I was planning something malicious. It had all been done without anyone saying a word. Excessive, you might think, but not unwarranted. The average casino, especially one the size I had been in, has millions under its roof.

Real World Security

Real world casino security, I learned after reading up on it, has two primary tasks. The first, naturally, is to make sure that the millions stay where they are supposed to; in the casino vaults. This they do with a preventative attitude, catching would-be thieves and robbers before they make a move, as opposed to after. It need not be said that casino security is some of the best in the world, better in many cases than major banks. A system of dozens, if not hundreds of cameras is used, combined with a full platoon of personal security.

The second task is to achieve all of the above as stealthily and inconspicuously as possible. Real world casino security, you see, is supposed to go unnoticed, as much as is possible. Why? Very simply because casinos don’t want to alert customers to the fact that a casino establishment basically has an enormous target painted on its walls. Casinos are often targeted, for obvious reasons, and the general consensus is that guests shouldn’t be thinking about this.

Real World Robberies

There are many stories, some more famous than others, of casino robberies. In almost all cases the thieves did not get away, and not because they were not, astonishingly, somehow able to penetrate the physical security systems, at risk of being gunned down.

It turns out that it is the casino chips that are far more likely to be stolen than the actual money, since the paper money is behind inches of steel. The chips, however, are more accessible, and so more commonly snatched. But it turns out that it is almost impossible to sell chips that have been stolen. Anyone trying to sell a casino chip will instantly have eyes on them, and this isn’t great when you’re on the run with a fleet of police in your rear-view mirror.

Online Casino Security

Online security, on the other hand, is about as near to completely impenetrable as you can get. Certain movies may have made you think that trendy, hipster hackers can worm their way into websites, generally by clattering frantically at a keyboard with all ten fingers. This is not the case in real life.

Imagine, if you will, a conveyer belt coming towards you, on it a safe containing a million dollars. You can have the million dollars, if you find the right key for the safe. The key is right here, of course, amongst these other potential six million other keys. Go ahead, open the safe. Whoops, too late, the conveyer belt has moved the safe along and your time is up. Next safe, same scenario. Whoops, too late, the safe has moved on.

That’s something like modern online encryption. And if that sounds difficult to crack, keep in mind that online casinos also update their systems pretty regularly. So better toss out your six million keys, and start assembling six million more.

Casino Fortresses

So, alas, I shan’t be putting into practice my masterful casino robbery plan. There is, however, a story that comes to mind. It seems a chap named Bill Brennan, working at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, simply put $500,000 into a bag and walked out the front door. Of course, he had been working there for some years, meaning that no one took notice of him. Seems all I have to do is get qualified to work at a casino, get a job at a casino, work there for a few years, blend in and make friends with everyone, hope they don’t get suspicious and search me on game day, have my hideout organised in a remote location where I will live out the rest of my life, somewhere the FBI wont look, and I’ll be good to go. Sounds feasible.